Sheboygan County is hosting an open house and ribbon cutting for the public to tour the new $24 million transportation facility in Plymouth.

The open house is scheduled from 4-6:30 p.m., with a brief program beginning at 4:45 p.m., on Friday, June 15, at the new Sheboygan County Transportation Facility, located near the intersection of State Highway 67 and County Road J in the Town of Plymouth.

County Board Chairman Tom Wegner said he hopes people will come out and see the county’s significant investment.

“A safe and reliable transportation system is essential for a community to thrive, for economic development and our quality of life. The new facility will serve our community for the next 75 to 100 years,” Wegner said in a press release.

The new transportation complex consolidated the aging Elkhart Lake Shed, Plymouth Shed, and Sheboygan Transportation Department Headquarters into one facility. With the salt sheds and storage buildings included, the new complex is 163,000 square feet, 17 percent larger than the three former facilities.

“Today’s snowplows are much larger than they were years ago, and they cost over $250,000 each,” Transportation Committee Chairman Roger Te Stroete said. "It is important we take care of our equipment, which are essential to maintain our roads."

County Administrator Adam Payne said the Elkhart Lake shed, Plymouth Shed, and Sheboygan Headquarter sites were all sold at their appraised values, with the sale proceeds, fund balance and bonding used to finance the new facility.

“All of the sites sold quickly, are back on the tax roll, and will be repurposed or torn down for new economic development opportunities,” Payne said.

Payne said locating the new transportation facility in the central part of the county was important for enhanced service and efficiency, and it also allowed the county to tie into the utilities that service the county-owned and operated Rocky Knoll Health Care Center.

“In addition to an excellent geographic location, we could tap into Rocky Knoll’s water and sewer system, which saved hundreds of thousands of dollars,” Payne said, “while at the same time making enhancements to both facilities.” The two departments are also sharing cleaning staff.

Preparing the building site, including stripping of topsoil, hauling pit run, digging retention/detention ponds, placing gravel, spreading topsoil, seeding and landscaping were all done by county personnel.

Greg Schnell, Sheboygan County Transportation director, said the county is fortunate to have the resources and staff capable of doing all the site work.

“We have a skilled workforce, and two gravel pits close by that allowed us to prepare the site and save money,” Schnell said.

Payne added that all involved worked well together and that the general contractor, Quasius Construction, did a nice job.

“The County Board was very supportive and it was a tremendous team effort. I’m particularly grateful for the leadership and hard work of our Building Services Director Jim TeBeest, Transportation Director Greg Schnell and our Transportation Department staff who all rose to the challenge to see this through," Payne said. "I’m proud of our team and community."